SEOUL: A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning on Sunday, saying that nuclear weapons were "the nation's life" and would not be traded even for "billions of dollars."

The comments came in a statement released after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over the plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party.

The meeting, which set a "new strategic line" calling for building both a stronger economy and nuclear arsenal, comes amid a series of near-daily threats from Pyongyang in recent weeks, including a vow to launch nuclear strikes on the United States and a warning on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula was in a "state of war."

Pyongyang is angry over annual US-South Korean military drills and a new round of UN sanctions that followed its February 12 nuclear test, the country's third. Analysts see a fullscale North Korean attack as unlikely.

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